Sustainability in education prepares today’s youth for tomorrow’s challenges
By Kevin Yaley, Head of Francis Parker School
Sustainability is a big buzzword in today’s culture, with everyone from politicians to CEOs striving to develop lasting goods, services, business practices and government initiatives. As an educator, I believe it is necessary to also consider the impact of
- This year, we at Francis Parker School mark our centennial anniversary; and as we celebrate this milestone, we also remember that it is our duty to instill in today’s youth the capacity to act as citizens of the world, committed to creating a better future for the sake of our society, our culture, and the planet at large.
Environmentalists define “sustainability” as “the quality of not being harmful to the environment or depleting natural resources, thereby supporting long-term ecological balance.” In a more general sense, the term can be defined simply as “the ability to be sustained, supported, upheld or confirmed.” Teachers today bear the weighty responsibility of equipping students with the tools necessary to face a host of unknown challenges as they move into the future. With so many variables before us, we thus approach education from all angles – teaching young people to respect their surroundings, conserve precious resources, strive for balance and non-violence and cultivate ideas with staying power.
Over the past 100 years, Francis Parker School has operated with this ethos of sustainability at the core of its teaching philosophy. Our educational mission emphasizes academic excellence and social development, intellectual rigor and hands-on engagement with the world. For us, sustainability in education is about balance and breadth: our students learn to be stewards of the world around them, both inside and outside the classroom. Through a diverse curriculum and a commitment to ethics as determined by students’ own experience and comprehension, we offer a unique approach to college preparatory education imbued with sustainable values. Our graduates carry these values with them into the world, and leave Parker prepared to excel as far as the mind can see.
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We at Parker believe that education is an essential component of sustainable society – and since 1912, we have worked to provide superior education and resources to our students. This mission continues to drive us today. To learn more about
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